Not on a prayerless bed, not on a prayerless bed
Compose thy weary limbs to rest;
For they alone are blest
With balmy sleep
Whom angels keep;
Nor, though by care opprest,
Or anxious sorrow,
Or thought in many a coil perplexed
For coming morrow,
Lay not thy head
On...
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i am old and blind!
Men point at me as smitten by God’s frown;
Afflicted and deserted of my kind,
Yet am I not cast down.I am weak, yet strong;
I murmur not that I no longer see;
Poor, old, and helpless, I the more belong,
Father Supreme! to Thee.
All-merciful One!
When men are... -
Father, i scarcely dare to pray,
So clear I see, now it is done,
That I have wasted half my day,
And left my work but just begun;So clear I see that things I thought
Were right or harmless were a sin;
So clear I see that I have sought,
Unconscious, selfish aims to win;So clear I see that I have hurt
The... -
The royal feast was done; the King
Sought some new sport to banish care,
And to his jester cried: “Sir Fool,
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!”The jester doffed his cap and bells,
And stood the mocking court before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Behind the painted grin he wore.He bowed his head, and bent his...
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O god, our Father, if we had but truth!
Lost truth—which thou perchance
Didst let man lose, lest all his wayward youth
He waste in song and dance;
That he might gain, in searching, mightier powers
For manlier use in those foreshadowed hours.If, blindly groping, he shall oft mistake,
And follow twinkling motes
Thinking... -
Keep me, I pray, in wisdom’s way,
That I may truths eternal seek;
I need protecting care to-day,—
My purse is light, my flesh is weak.
So banish from my erring heart
All baleful appetites and hints
Of Satan’s fascinating art,
Of first editions, and of prints.
Direct me in some godly walk
Which leads away from... -
if, when I kneel to pray,
With eager lips I say:
“Lord, give me all the things that I desire,—
Health, wealth, fame, friends, brave heart, religious fire,
The power to sway my fellow-men at will,
And strength for mighty works to banish ill,”—
In such a prayer as this
The blessing I must miss.Or if I only...
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I crave, dear Lord,
No boundless hoard
Of gold and gear,
Nor jewels fine,
Nor lands, nor kine,
Nor treasure-heaps of anything.—
Let but a little hut be mine
Where at the hearthstone I may hear
The cricket sing,
And have the shine
Of one glad woman’s eyes to make,
For my poor sake,... -
Dear lord! kind Lord!
Gracious Lord! I pray
Thou wilt look on all I love,
Tenderly to-day!
Weed their hearts of weariness;
Scatter every care,
Down a wake of angel wings
Winnowing the air.Bring unto the sorrowing
All release from pain;
Let the lips of laughter
Overflow again;
And with... -
Over the dim confessional cried
Father Amatus,—cloistered young,—
Dropping his rosary by his side,
Careless where his crucifix swung:“I have been priest since—an endless when!
Sat by the living, consoled the dead,
Fasted and prayed for women and men,
Fed the poor with my daily bread.“The wind blows cold,—how the snow...